Apple Lawsuit over iPad Trademark Rejected by Chinese Court

The Intermediate People’s Court of Southern China has dismissed a lawsuit by Apple against Chinese company Shenzhen Proview Co; Apple accused the Chinese company of infringing its iPad trademark.

Apparently, the Chinese court ruled against Apple because Shenzhen Proview registered the iPad trademark in 2000 for products to be sold in a number of countries including China.

The Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolis (via Reuters) released the information which is based on court records.

Apple claimed that it had an agreement with the parent company of Shenzhen Proview Co to have the iPad transferred to Apple; however, the court found that the previous deal was only applicable to Taiwan and did not cover China.

And now it appears that Proview is looking to take legal action against Apple for using the iPad name, demanding 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in compensation for copyright infringement, according to Caixin Online.

Apple will be keen to deal with this situation, since the Cupertino company is putting its hope in the huge potential of the Chinese market, the second largest market for Apple, after the domestic one. Analysts and Apple executives alike, agree that this potential has only been superficially tapped and the company could achieve phenomenal sales in China.